The big unanswered question about Russia’s ‘plague’ deathThu, 08 Oct 2026 17:18:02 +0000 Russia says it is winding down precautionary measures taken after a lab worker at a plague research institute died. But what made officials think these were needed at all? | |
AI or ‘super intelligence’? Trump isn’t the only one who is confusedThu, 08 Oct 2026 16:07:59 +0000 US President Donald Trump has declared that artificial intelligence should now be called “super intelligence”. Columnist Jacob Aron explains where that term came from and explores whether its many historical meanings apply today | |
OpenAI mistranslated mathematics into code for its Navier-Stokes proofThu, 08 Oct 2026 16:03:20 +0000 When OpenAI announced its surprise solution to the Navier-Stokes problem, it produced one proof for humans and one for computers – however, they don't match | |
Climate satire Digger – with Tom Cruise on top form – is full of surprisesThu, 08 Oct 2026 14:00:00 +0000 What are we to make of Digger, a climate satire by a normally well-respected film-maker that’s been largely panned by critics? Stay with it and you’ll find out, says Bethan Ackerley | |
Record El Niño threatens Great Barrier Reef with ecological shiftThu, 08 Oct 2026 13:00:00 +0000 Researchers are worried about the impact the strongest-known El Niño will have on the Great Barrier Reef, and whether anything can be done to avert the World Heritage Area’s demise | |
The world may never go back to how it was after this monster El NiñoThu, 08 Oct 2026 11:00:00 +0000 This El Niño is forecast to end around June next year after smashing all records, but its impacts could persist indefinitely in some parts of the world | |
The most interesting mathematical discoveries in OpenAI’s 722 new papersThu, 08 Oct 2026 08:38:11 +0000 OpenAI has released hundreds of papers claiming to make progress on the biggest open problems in mathematics – here are some with the most potential | |
Neanderthal Europe was as much a wooden age as a stone ageWed, 07 Oct 2026 18:00:00 +0000 When Neanderthals dominated Europe, it was likely that wood was at least as important to them as stone for working into tools | |
194-year-old tortoise has exceptional DNA repair systems that fight off ageingWed, 07 Oct 2026 18:00:00 +0000 The genome of Jonathan the giant tortoise, a 194-year-old resident of St Helena island, has been probed to understand how he has been alive for more than double his species’ average life expectancy | |
Twisteddoodles: ‘I made an AI version of you’Wed, 07 Oct 2026 17:00:00 +0000 This week's cartoon from Twisteddoodles | |